Furnace discharge means



June 7,1938. J. F. JOY

FURNACE DISCHARGE MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. '21, 1936 Patented June 7, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FURNACE DISCHARGE MEANS Massachusetts Application October 21, 1936, Serial No. 106,849

Claims.

This invention relates to furnaces; and more particularly to improvements in furnaces especially designed to use in the forming and hard facing of mining machine cutter bits.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved bit heating furnace. Another object is to provide an improved bit heating furnace whereby the bit blanks may be initially fed through the furnace prior to the forging operation and thereafter fed through the furnace pre paratory to the hard facing of the forged bits. A further object is to provide an improved discharge means for a bit heating furnace whereby the bits may be discharged selectively in a plurality of directions from the furnace. A still further object is to provide an improved bit discharge means whereby the bit blanks may be discharged through one discharge means prior to the forging process and through another discharge means subsequent to the forging process and prior to the hard facing of the bits, the latter discharge means being so arranged and constructed as to effect tilting of the bits into a position to facilitate the hard facing thereof. Yet another object is to provide separate discharge means for the purposes above set forth having associated therewith improved means under operator control whereby the discharge means may be selectively rendered effective. Other objects and advantages of the invention will, however, hereinafter more fully appear.

In the accompanying drawings there is shown for purposes of illustration one form which the invention may assume in practice.

In these drawings,-

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the improved bit heating furnace having associated therewith the improved discharge means.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the furnace shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view of the furnace shown in Fig. 1, with parts shown in section, the view taken in the plane of line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken substantially on line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken substantially on line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on line 6-6 of Fig. 4.

In this illustrative embodiment of the invention there is shown a bit heating furnace comprising a casing I of generally rectangular shape provided with suitable supporting means indicated at 2. The casing is lined with fire brick at 3 to form an elongated heating chamber 4 having a lateral flue opening 5 extending substantially along the length of the heating chamber; A combustible mixture is adapted to be discharged into the heating chamber by means of a conventional burner 6. Supported at one end of the furnace casing is a bit receiving magazine I having an inclined bit receiving guideway 8 for receiving a stack of bits. A series of cutter bits are placed in superimposed stacked relation in the magazine and are fed downwardly therein by gravity and the bottommost bits are discharged one by one from the magazine by means of a reciprocating plunger 9 guided at H! within a bracket H attached to the furnace casing. This discharge plunger is reciprocated by means of a bell crank l2 connected through a link 13 to a lever l4 pivoted at 15 on the supporting structure 2 of the furnace casing. This lever I4 is provided with a foot treadle Hi. When the operator places his foot on the treadle and presses downwardly, the

plunger 9 is moved inwardly to engage a bit and to move the bit from beneath the magazine along a horizontal guideway ll within the heating chamber 4 of the furnace. The bits guided on the guideway within the heating chamber abut one another, so that when a new bit is fed within the furnace, the entire series of bits is pushed along the guideway. In this instance, the bit guideway extends along the lower surface of the lateral flue opening 5 of the heating chamber and is formed on an elongated casting I8 of rectangular cross section. Formed longitudinally through this casting is a chamber I9, and a motor driven blower 2B is adapted to blow air through a pipe connection 21 into the chamber l9 and through the chamber to maintain the guide casting relatively cool. As the plunger 9 is reciprocated, the end bits of the series of heated bits are discharged from the heating chamber through an end opening 22 at the end of the furnace remote from the bit receiving magazine 1.

During the bit forming process, a series of bit blanks are initially placed within the bit receiving magazine 1 of the furnace, and the blanks. after they are heated, are discharged from the furnace and placed within a bit forging machine of the type disclosed in the patent to S. T. Nelson, Patent No. 1,650,580, patented Nov. 22, 1927, and the blank is forged into a shape similar to that disclosed in the S. T. Nelson patent, No. 1,679,049, patented July 31, 1928. Subsequent to the forging operation, the forged bits are placed in the magazine and reheated, and the heated bits are discharged from the furnace, and as they are discharged from the furnace they are'moved into an inclined position by the improved discharge means to be later described, and a hard face is applied to each bit point.

The receiving means 23 for conducting the heated blanks from the furnace prior to the forging operation comprises an inclined receiver.24

'in the form of a chute extending laterally from the furnace at the end of the latter adjacent the discharge opening 22, and when a control plate 25'is slid outwardly into its open position the heated blanks, as they are discharged from the furnace, move by gravity down the inclined chute 24. The operator then picks up, by means of' tongs, the heated blanks from the lower end of the chute and places the blanks within the forging machine. After the blanks have been formed with suitable cutting points, they are again placed in the magazine of the furnace and.

fed within the heating chamber to be reheated. When the bits. are heated to the desired temperature, they are dischargedfrom the furnace over the top surface of the. control slide 25, the

latter being closed at that time, into a'longi tudinally extending receiver 26, the bottom surface of this'receiver being for its first portion plane and being Warped towards its end remote from the furnace, as indicated at 21, so that as the heated bits are moved along the receiver they are tilted froma horizontal position into an inclined position, as shown in Fig. 3, thereby to present the bit cutting points in. a more convenient position for hard facing. As the bits move into the inclined position shown, the operator applies a hard abrasive material to the cutting'points by means of an acetylene torch in a well'known manner. Subsequent to the hard facing process, the bits are removed from the discharge chutes and placed in a suitable temposition for hard facing so that the hard facing process is greatly facilitated. Further, by the provision of the operator controlled slide, either of the receiving means may be rendered effective at the operators will. Other uses and advantages of the improved bit heating furnace will be clearly apparent to those skilled in the art.

While there is in this application specifically described one form which the invention may assume in practice, it will be understood that this form of the same is shown for purposes of illus- 1 tration and that the invention may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a heating furnace fromwhich elongated heated articles are adapted to be discharged in a sidewise abutting relation in a horizontal direction, of means for receiving the heated articles asthey are discharged from said furnace embodying means for automatically tilting the articles, as they move in abutting relation horizontally along said receiving means, about an axis transverse to their length from one position into a relatively inclined position.

2. The combination with a heating furnace from which heated articles are adapted to be discharged, of means for receiving the heated articles as they are discharged from. said furnace and for conducting the articles in one or another of a plurality of directions with respect to said furnace comprising a lateral receiver and a longitudinal receiver, and means for selectively rendering'said receivers effective, said longitudinal receiver having relatively inclined article guiding surfaces for tilting the articles from one position into a relatively inclined position as they move along the receiver.

3. The combination with a heating furnace from which heated articles are adapted to be discharged in sidewise abutting relation, of means for. receiving the heated articles as they are discharged from said furnace embodying-a receiver alined with the furnace discharge and having consecutively plane and Warped guiding surfaces.

over which the articles move in abutting relation for automatically tilting the articles from one position into arelatively inclined position.

l. The combinationwith a heating furnace from which heated articles are adapted to be discharged in a sidewise horizontal direction, of means for receiving the articles as they aredischargedfrom said furnace embodying" a horizontal receiver alined with the furnace discharge and having angularly, related guiding surfaces,

one of which is horizontal, and over which sur? faces the articles movefor automatically tilting the articles from a horizontal position into a relatively inclined position.

5. The combination with a heating furnace from which heated articles are adapted to be discharged, of means .for receiving the heated articles as they are discharged from said fur-.

nace comprising a receiver projecting laterally from the furnace discharge, a receiver projecting longitudinally of the furnace discharge, and means for selectively causing the articles discharged from the furnace to enter one or the other of said receivers comprising a closure memberfor'pr eventing when closed, entry of the articles into the lateral receiver, the articles passing" over said closure member into said longitudinal receiver, and said closure member when opened,

permitting entry of the articles to the lateral 1 receiver, the articlesmoving by gravity into and along said lateral receiver. a

JOSEPH F. JOY. 

